The Phantom and the Angel

The Phantom and the Angel Part 9

"Come on Safira! You've only got another twenty flaps to go till your done with this set! Don't stop now!" The young Faunus heard her spirit sis yell out, not that her words really helped all that much, as they really didn't do anything to make the burning in her back any better. Ever since they had let her mommy-mom, her mom found out about Safira's new dream of being a Huntress she had been pushing Safira much harder than Sarah ever did. Longer sprints through the town, more exercise than ever before, heck, she had even spent some time being drilled by the guards who were always around the mansion! It felt like her muscles were constantly on fire and being poked by needles. It almost made her want to give up...almost.

Not that she was above complaining, even if it was just to herself. Easy for you to say, you're not the one who feels like their dying. She thought as extended her wings and brought them down like a bird would to get off the ground, her body just barely lifting off the ground in response. Since no one had had wings in a really long time, Safira's mom hadn't really had any good ideas on how to help the little winged Faunus learn how to get off the ground. Thankfully, between her and Sarah, they had managed to come up with the exercise she was working on right now. She was on the ground, in the same position she would be in for the awful exercise Sarah made her do a lot, the 'pushup', but instead of using her arms to push off the ground she instead flapped her wings. Every time she moved her Faunus appendages she was picked up off the ground just a little only to fall immediately after, both her back and her arms burning with every movement.

"You thought that a little loudly Safira, I heard you." Sarah thought back, Safira actually groaning out loud as she flapped again, a small puff of dust swirling around her as her wings beat against the air. "And I know this sucks, but look at it this way. The more you flap, the stronger your wings will be. and the stronger your wings, the less chance there is that the next time you jump off the balcony that you'll get tangled up in a bush as you fall."

"That was only once! And it was only 'cause that stupid puff-."

"Not a puff Safira, a gust. A stupid 'gust' of wind."

"Gust of wind threw me off!" Safira cried out loud, not missing a beat from when Sarah corrected her. though she had to admit, the burning in her arms was a lot better than the pain of having broken her arm because she landed on it wrong. Mom had been really, really angry with her after that, and not even Sarah's weird black healing light thingy had helped.

Safira froze mid flap as she blinked owlishly. Now that she thought about it...

"Something wrong Safira?" Her spirit sister asked, the joking look on the older girl's face replaced by concern.

"Hey Sarah, you mind if I ask you something?" Safira thought back as she rolled over onto her back to stare up at the gently rolling clouds above. "That black stuff that sometimes shows up around you, what is it?"

At first the black-haired teen didn't answer, instead she was looking down at her with a confused look on her face. But eventually the older girl finally seemed to get it as she held up her hand and the air around her hand turned a little darker. "You mean this?" she asked, Safira nodding as she stretched out her wings in an effort to make them less sore. "This is Aura, the energy I mentioned to you before. A pretty much universal trait among Huntsmen and Huntresses. It's basically the ability to use your own soul as a defensive barrier, an ability to heal, and most importantly, it gives you an ability unique to you."

Safira couldn't help it, her jaw dropped at all the awesome sounding stuff. "What the heck, seriously? That sounds-."

"Talking out loud again Safira."